SPOTLIGHT: 'WOODS' AND 'SWEENEY'

(Please note: As with all 'Spotlights,' the following article solely reflects the opinion of its author--- in this case, Daniel--- and has not been endorsed or otherwise approved by the staff of Hard Rain Falling. It is included here to provoke thought and stir conversation.)



I actually think I like both Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods better than Sunday in the Park with George.

Wait! Come back! I can explain myself! I lost you all with Into the Woods, didn't I?

Sweeney is, I think, great precisely because of its darkness, not in spite of it. It's an uncompromising, pessimistic exploration of what humankind can really be like. In the show, love leads to hate and victim becomes monster. The cycle of revenge sweeps like wildfire, leaving no one unscathed but the relatively unharmed young lovers -- and can we truly believe that they will live happily ever after? This view may be misanthropic and doomful, but the show suggests that mindless optimism comes only from luck and ignorance. It's this dark view of mankind that is shared by Cabaret (which is brilliantly self-referential when it criticizes "light" escapist fare), and, to a lesser extent, West Side Story (cautiously optimistic, but only faintly so). This quality is what makes these shows pack such a punch, to me.

But Into the Woods is a tougher sell. I recognize that some may find it too "commercial" or "light", but I think it deserves much more respect than I've heard it get. First, on a purely entertaining level, so many of the songs are wonderfully witty and tongue-twisting ("Any Moment", "On the Steps of the Palace", and "Your Fault" come to mind in particular). But besides this, the show manages to explore a mind-boggling number of intriguing, difficult questions.The most blatant problem it discusses is, of course, the dangers of what we teach our children, and what many of us subsequently believe our entire lives. The second act reminds us that getting what you want (or think you want, rather) may not -- will probably not -- make you happy, whether it's marrying a prince or being beautiful. Reality is far more complicated, and "Children Will Listen" suggests that children deserve to know this.

Meanwhile, "I Know Things Now" addresses the excitement and terror of being awakened to the real world, "On the Steps of the Palace" confronts the maddening difficulty of decision-making, and "Giants in the Sky" articulates the realization of your ultimate insignificance. And entire essays could be written about "Any Moment", which forces a choice between fairy tales and reality. In a way, this song inverts Sunday in the Park focus on searing, impossible love, eschewing it in favor of the real-life love which is rarer than movie love.

Each of these songs is a wonderful little wolf in sheep's clothing, a "light" number containing a full-blown Pandora's box. I far prefer this sort of gentle wisdom to Sunday in the Park's grand themes of love and art and proverb-like lines like "pretty isn't beautiful" and "look at what you want, not at where you are, not at what you'll be" (which, frankly, sounds like a fortune cookie).

Phew. Well. There's another two cents to put in the account, anyway.